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Vinyl Records Collectors Association Stages ‘Sit-In’

Do you long to hear some good old vintage music? Not a reproduced, watered-down version, but the original sound, the real thing?

Each year, the Vinyl Records Collectors Association (VRCA) of Jamaica meets to celebrate and share music from vinyl records at its annual Memorial Day Collectors Sit-In. This year's Sit-In will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida over the Memorial Holiday Weekend from May 23-26.

Over 300 vinyl record collectors from countries such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada and the United States are expected to attend this year's event. Each night, a different group of collectors will play to showcase their collections, and celebrate with honorees from the Association's numerous international chapters.

This year's Jamaican honorees are Winston 'Merritone' Blake and Gladstone 'Gladdy' Parker. Mainly supported by the Jamaican Diaspora, the event is free of cost. However, Michael 'Louis' Owens, a member of the Association's Jamaica chapter, explained that fund-raisers have to be held to cover the production cost of the Sit-In. A fundraiser will be held on Saturday, May 10 at the Deck (14 Trafalgar Road) at 6 pm, featuring the likes of Donald 'Pinky' Campbell and Kool FM's Peter Phillips. Part proceeds will be donated to the Readiness early Childhood Development Center.

Vinyl records, used with a gramaphone were popular in the 1950s to 1990s, for recording and storing music. With advances in technology, more convenient media such as Compact Discs (CDs)replaced vinyl. However, collecting vinyl records is still big business. A recent report from E-bay indicated that the site sells more than 3 million vinyl records each year, and that users buy and sell at least six records every minute.

For persons like the members of the 10-year-old VRCA, collecting vinyl records is a ‘structured’ hobby- a pastime that helps them to remember and commemorate the lives of friends who were collectors, and to honour living legendary vinyl record collectors. “It's a nostalgic thing,” said Michael ‘Louis’ Owens, a member of the Jamaican chapter of the VRCA. “It's personal. Most of us grew up with vinyl records as the media for recorded music. I have CDs, but I still cherish my vinyl.” Since the first staging of a vinyl record collectors gathering in Philadelphia by Michael Meysmith, Ownes explained that the VRCA has been growing, as young people join the ranks of vintage collectors, and add their own different flavours to the hobby. “It's a big thing,” he said. Then, with an ironic twist, added: “We're always looking for new old records.”

The first leg of the Sit-In will be held at 'Tavern On The Green', 315 S 62^nd Avenue, Hollywood, Florida, from 8 pm on Friday, May 23 to 2 am the following morning. The second phase will be at the Inverrary Country Club, 3840 Inverrary Boulevard, Lauderhill, Florida from 10 pm to 3 am. The main event will be held on Sunday, May 25 at West Broward Hall, 927 NW 178^th Avenue, Pembroke Pines from 6 pm to 1 am. Representatives from each chapter are expected to perform at this event, including Jamaican representative Oreilly 'Glenn' Henry. The finale will be at Snyder Park, SW 4^th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale on Monday, May 26 from 7pm-12pm. For more information, check their website at: www.thevrca.com